Well I finally decided to do something about the quiet exhaust and because of another forum member, I picked up the system and spent a little extra getting it installed. Forum member Little Bert offered up his two week old Flowmaster system so I jumped on it. Little Bert decided to go in another direction. I sent him payment and I had the system two days later. Thanks Bert.

Ok, I recommend using a lift rack if you can because it makes it so much easier. That's not to say that you can't do the job in your driveway because you can. Here's a HINT: The Flowmaster instructions tell you that you will have to cut the pipe on the passenger side of the car about 4 inches ahead of the muffler to get the stock system out IF you have an automatic transmission which I do. I did NOT have to cut anything. What I did was to remove the bolt holding the heat shield right next to the pipe. With the bolt removed, bend the tab about 90 degrees and the pipe comes right out.

The rest of the directions will get the job done. Removing the H-Pipe is a must. After that it gets pretty easy. I installed the Flowmaster mufflers and over the axle pipes, reinstalled the H-pipe, and tightened up all the clamps. I bent the tab back to its original position and put the bolt back through the tab.

Back on the ground in about 50 minutes, I started the car and began to smile. My objective was to get a system that would not be too loud and have very little or no drone. I think I hit the nail on the head! I wasn't sure I was going to like going from 4 tips down to 2 but the two 4" tips look pretty good to me now that the mufflers are installed.

This is such a subjective issue. Everyone has their own ideas as to what the perfect exhaust system should sound like. It has drone or it doesn't have drone. What is drone? One thing I can tell you is that there are at least a hundred different definitions of what drone is.

I will give you the best information I can here. Of coarse these are my perceptions of the system. The idle is deep and throaty, just what I wanted. Driving the car down the highway exhibits very little 'drone', there's that word again. The most I can say is that I do hear a bit of resonance at 1200 RPM just as you pull away from a stop. It disapears in an instant and as far as I can tell, I'm never really at that RPM. I only pass through it quickly. At 70 MPH on the freeway, the sound coming from the tires makes more noise than the exhaust does. You can however hear a mellow deep tone which I find almost relaxing. So far, everything I've written is while the radio is turned off. After driving for about 30 miles without my music, I went ahead and turned the radio on. At that point, the car seemed to be pretty much stock, meaning that the sound coming from the exhaust did not intrude on my tunes.

Finally, I've included a link to a sound clip I recorded once I got back home. The clip is recorded in stereo with the microphones placed about 6 feet behind the car, one mic on each side. What you will hear is the start up and idle for a few seconds. Then I raise the RPM only slightly to about 1500 a couple of times and then let it back down to idle. Next, I raise the RPM to 2000 and hold it there for 4 or 5 seconds and then back to idle. In the last part of the sound clip, I rev the motor up to 4500 PRM a couple times.

At this point, I'm very satisfied on a few points. I like the way the system sounds, I still have my stock system in tact, AND I spent less than $400.00.

Sorry for the long post, but I felt it was important to give as much information as I could. Here are a few photos and the link to the sound clip. Depending on your connection, it might be best to point to the link for the MP3, click your Right mouse button, and save the MP3 to your PC. Then play the file, it will sound much better that way. If you have a fast connection, just clicking on the link below should work fine for you. Here's the sound clip.

 

 

Nice post and info. Do you have an M6 or auto. Looks like I may have to try them out.

 

Nice sound.

 

He states he has the auto trans.

 

 

 

I didn't think the 2 tips would look good when reading your article.
After seeing the pics, I think they look sharp.

good review.

 

Very good Post. Sounds really good, ive always like flowmaster sound on cars.

 

 

i'm glad another one of us likes the flowmaster... i got mines installed a few weeks after i got my car.. the best part about it i only pay $300 with install and everyone and i mean EVERYONE loves the sound of it.. i'm glad you're enjoying it as much as i do and pay alot less then those other exhaust system out there...

Ramon

 

Good info - nice write-up.

 

Excellent post with excellent sound!

 

Nice sound. Similar to the MagnaFlow mufflers I have on my C6. Cost is about the same too.

 

I was so impressed with the sound clip that I just went to the local Midas shop that has done some other work for me and ordered a flowmaster kit. It wll be here early next week. Can't wait. Thanks for sharing your review with us.

 

I was thinking the same this too. Sounds just like my magnaflows. Paid $260 total.
Check them out

 

Excellent write up, great recording... thanks!

 

I was originally thinking of doing the same thing by using the Magnaflow mufflers but there were a couple of reasons I didn't do it. First off, some of you guys are very lucky in getting some of the prices you get for this kind of work. This is not the case where I live. I went to three different shops to get the exact same thing done as you did. The BEST / lowest price quote I got to do the work was $450.00. These prices were for them getting the mufflers. I suppose I could have bought the mufflers myself but I don't think the savings would have been very much. My thought at that time was I'd be taking a gamble on the sound since I had not heard any other cars with this setup. More importantly, if I'd done the job, I would have basically destroyed my stock system. One of my objectives was to keep the stock system in tact in case I wanted to put it back on. I asked the guys at the shops: "what if I don't like the sound for some reason, how much will it cost to put the stock system back on the car?" They all said at least a couple hundred bucks. That just wasn't acceptable to me.

Doing what I've done using the Flowmaster system has cost me less money and I still have my stock system. The fact is that the guy at the muffler shop asked me what I was going to do with my stock system because if I wanted to leave it with him, he thought he could sell it fairly easily. Now that I know what my new system sounds like, I may go back to his place and see how serious he was. I will also say that the last stock system I saw on ebay sold for $99.00. That is also an alternative I have now if I choose to do it.

 

I've gotten a few PM's about the license plate on the back of my car. I can't come close to telling you where I got it from since I've owned it since the mid 70's.